Fire guts Liberty home

Family escapes harm in blaze

March 8, 2013

Crews were called out at 5:36 a.m. after a passer-by and a next-door neighbor spotted the flames and called 911, Durkin said.

The home is just yards from the fire station at Tibbets Wick Road and Belmont Avenue, and Durkin said that kept the fire from getting worse. But the damage inside is so bad that it will probably be totaled, he said. Damage is more than $40,000, Durkin said.

The family who lives in the home left before the fire, Durkin said. Neighbors thought there was a woman and two children inside when firefighters arrived. Crews searched and found no one, Durkin said. The Red Cross is helping the family, whom Durkin did not identify.

Investigators are still looking for a cause, Durkin said. The cause does not look suspicious, according to reports.

Assisting Liberty were Vienna, Howland, Brookfield and crews from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.